Taipei
Taipei's liveliest night market, and all the better for being local and less touristy. Food-wise there are steaks, sushi, animal-shaped biscuits,…
Taipei
Taipei's liveliest night market, and all the better for being local and less touristy. Food-wise there are steaks, sushi, animal-shaped biscuits,…
Taipei
The oldest tea-selling shop in Taipei, dating to 1883. The current fourth-generation merchants are more than happy to talk tea and let you sample the…
Taipei
Handmade lamps with painted dragons, bold flowers, bamboo and calligraphy, are solid red, and as big as a gym ball or small as a fist. There are also…
Xinyi
This popular mall is good for kids with the Donguri Republic store in the basement (selling merchandise from Studio Ghibli, of Spirited Away fame) and…
Songshan
Visitors to this famous pineapple-cake maker are seated at a wooden table and given a complimentary tray holding a bowl of black tea and a wrapped cake…
Taipei
A rabbit's warren of old gems. You'll find everything here from ornate furniture to kimonos, chinaware, plastic toys, dial-up telephones and rocking…
Taipei
The rather ugly concrete structure, grafted onto a beautiful colonial-era facade adjacent to DaDaoCheng Theater, houses a huge fabric market on the 2nd…
Ximending & Wanhua
Serving shoppers since 1973, this small mall is old school but aimed squarely at the youth. Four floors of jeans, sneakers, toys, games, bags and shoes,…
Jianguo Weekend Holiday Jade Market
Taipei
This giant market peddling jade and other semiprecious stones is under Jianguo Overpass. There are also beads, pearls, religious artefacts and copper…
National Cultural and Creative Gift Center
Taipei
Four floors of jade, ceramics, tea sets, jewellery, scrolls, Kinmen knives, Kavalan whisky and handmade soap are just some of the highlights of the…
Songshan
This stretch of Guangfu Rd has a gaggle of Buddhist shops, and this is the mother of them all. Three floors of incense, statues, books, scrolls and beads…
Taipei
Rich, moist chocolatey squares of heaven. It's always worth stopping off for a slice of the unusual. Their bestseller is Earl Grey, and they also have…
Xinyi
Housed in the new, sleek, sexy black tower is Taipei Nanshan Plaza, the only building (at 272m) to give Taipei 101 a run for its money in the height…
Songshan
Just across from Taipei Arena, this shopping mall is one of the more pleasant branches of Breeze, less crowded and home to more individual smaller brands…
Taipei
This funky fabric shop uses bold and bright designs in cotton canvas to make bags, purses, laptop cases, book covers, Japanese wall curtains and anything…
Xinyi
Yes, there are lots of Eslite shopping malls around the city, but this one is special because it's set in the gorgeous grounds of Songshan Cultural &…
Taipei
Looking like a 1980s spaceship, Syntrend is a much-posher electronics mall than the scruffy Guanghua Digital Plaza next door. You'll find computers,…
Taipei
In the funky loft space above a fusion restaurant in the Huashan 1914 Creative Park, you'll find this quirky, boutique design shop with a rich collection…
Ximending & Wanhua
The place to get inexpensive boxes of pineapple cakes (NT$180 for 12 cakes), the standard gift to give people when you holiday in Taiwan. This small shop…
Xinyi
Spread over two floors, the Eslite bookshop here (open 10am to midnight) is one of the best in the city and has a fancy teahouse. There's also a great…
Taipei
There's no English name, but the colourful designs of Tibetan Buddhism and the Dalai Lama's portrait on the door will alert you to this cosy corner shop…
Flying Squirrel Culture Studio
Taipei
On the ground floor of compact Huashan Market, this little shop (no English name, look for stall A19) sells some curious indigenous handicrafts, brightly…
Taipei
Hailing from a mountain tea-growing community in central Taiwan's Nantou, Mr and Mrs Chang have been selling organically grown oolong teas from all over…
Songshan
A tiny sliver of a shop, easy to overlook – hunt for the wolf-head logo. Gently designed gift boxes and tins in bright colours of Taiwan-grown teas,…
Taipei
This is Taipei's most renowned bookshop chain, with locations all over town. This branch is the famous 24-hour location. There's a good selection of…
Taipei
A shop for the lesbian community with both in-store and online sales. In recent years it has expanded into a cafe and hosts local events, tarot-card…
Taipei
GinGin's is a gay-and-lesbian shop offering books and adult magazines (Mandarin only), DVDs, stationery, gifts, posters, sex toys and clothing. See if you…
Songshan
Wufenpu is a lively grid of streets, selling cheap clothes and accessories, wholesale and retail. You'll find big bags of T-shirts, jeans and shoes. It's…
Songshan
Shen Bai stands out from the rest of Wufenpu with its focus on sparkly clothing. It is stacked with sequined denim shorts, T-shirts and tops. There are…
Ximending & Wanhua
One of the best sex shops in the gay bar district, selling underwear, swimwear, T-shirts, lube, condoms, sex toys and one of Taiwan's craziest novelty…
Shilin
Gifts for all price ranges based on the museum's collection. There's everything from a tiny jadeite cabbage phone pendant made from resin (NT$150) to an…
Taipei
Six storeys of electronics, software, hardware, laptops, peripherals, mobile phones and gadgets of all kinds. Dozens of smaller shops speckle the…
Taipei
This third-generation shop is the last remaining traditional embroidered shoe outlet in Taipei. Most of the dainty little items (with patterns such as…
Taipei
This lovely independent bookshop, run by Mr Wu, stocks a selection of scholarly history and political books on Taiwan in English, as well as maps,…
Taipei
Traditional Chinese medicine store with both dried herbs and prepackaged remedies. There's no English sign. You can spot this place by its old wooden…
Shilin
A small branch of this popular book chain, which stocks a selection of English books and magazines. Nice place to browse. Take Exit 2 from Shilin MRT…
Taipei
In a restored long shophouse from 1913, this exceptional ceramic studio carries the Hakka Blue brand, inspired by the indigo colour of Hakka clothing.